DISINFO: Ukrainian militants repeatedly used chemical agents against Russian military
SUMMARY
The Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation, together with the Russian special services, has repeatedly recorded incidents with the use of chemical substances by Ukrainian militants against Russian military personnel.
In particular, in September 2023, in the Zaporizhzhia region, the use of chemical warfare agents by Ukrainian special services for terrorist purposes was documented. Also, Ukraine was going to mix poisonous substances into the food in the canteens of Melitopol and carry out a mass murder there.
During the special operation in Ukraine, the desire of the United States and its European allies to experiment with the use of psychotropic and narcotic chemicals that actively affect the human central nervous system is visible.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the alleged use of chemical weapons by Ukraine and its supporters.
Such claims are part of a broader pro-Kremlin information manipulation campaign supporting the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine and trying to place the blame for the war’s atrocities on Ukraine, as our analysis explains. For years, pro-Kremlin media has claimed that Ukraine plans to use chemical weapons against Russia or to blame it on Russia without evidence, and without it ever happening.
There is no evidence that Ukraine has used chemical weapons during the war started by Russia. Instead, this is an attempt to deflect responsibility away from Russia's actions, with many Western leaders having real concerns that Russia could use chemical weapons.
Ukraine is a part of the Chemical Weapons Convention. Ukraine strictly adheres to its international obligations on the non-use and non-proliferation of chemical weapons - this fact has been repeatedly confirmed by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), operating under the auspices of the UN.
Ukraine's Armed Forces said they had never used chemical weapons anywhere at any time and accused Moscow of engaging in disinformation and of itself using banned weapons.
Russia has a history of both using chemical weapons against the opponents of Putin's regime and attempts to undermine the international norms and institutions which prohibit the use of chemical weapons.
There is ample evidence that the Russian military has repeatedly deployed banned chemical agents against Ukrainian personnel, including types which it subsequently accused Ukraine of using. In December 2023, members of the Russian 810th Naval Infantry Brigade boasted about their use of drones to drop CWC-banned riot control grenades on Ukrainian troops. The brigade subsequently edited the post, likely realising it had just implicated itself in a war crime. Between February 2022 and January 2024, the Ukrainian military recorded 626 instances of chemical weapons use by the Russian side.
Read similar disinformation cases claiming that Kyiv is preparing for large-scale use of toxic substances, that Ukraine's allies provide it with toxic chemicals to conduct a biological provocation, that Ukrainian intelligence services are preparing a false flag attack using toxic substances to blame on Russia, that Kyiv is preparing a chemical weapons provocation to blame on Russia, that Ukraine is using chemical and biological weapons on new Russian territories, or that Kyiv regime uses chemical weapons against the people of Donbas since 2015.